Monday, March 23, 2009

Sacramento River salmon feed the eagles nesting in Redding, California (Shasta County, USA).

Eagles and the fish that they feed upon both require good flows of clean water in the California Delta and Sacramento River.

This Caltrans webcam overlooks an eagle nest with three eggs/eaglets located adjacent to the Sacramento River, enabling us to see a part of nature that is normally out of sight for ground-based observers. "Bald Eagles mainly eat fish. About 90% of their diet consists of live or dead fish." (Information about eagles - Caltrans) Survival of these eaglets will depend upon the ability of the adult birds to find enough food.

River conservation is needed to restore fish populations in the Sacramento River and California Delta.

Fish populations in the Sacramento River and California Delta have collapsed to dangerously low levels in recent years. Eagles and humans both like to eat the salmon that spend part of their lives in the Sacramento River. The west coast fishing economy has been devastated by the recent ban on commercial and sport fishing for salmon, but this is necessary in hopes of preventing the fish from going completely extinct. (Mendocino coast rocked by closure of salmon fishing - Sacramento Bee 20april2008)

"Although last year officials with the Bush and Schwarzenegger administrations claimed that “ocean conditions” spurred the collapse, a coalition of recreational, commercial fishermen, Indian Tribes, conservationists and independent scientists pointed to increased water exports from the California Delta, declining water quality and other freshwater habitat problems as the key factors in the collapse." (Another Year of No Salmon Fishing off California Coast - Indybay 13mar2009)